Commercial · 39-year property
Cost Segregation for Self-Storage Facilities
Self-storage looks like the simplest building in commercial real estate and produces some of the most favourable reclassification percentages, because so much of what you paid for sits outside the building envelope.
Drive aisles, fencing and gates
A drive-up facility is a set of buildings surrounded by pavement. Drive aisles, aprons, perimeter fencing, sliding gates and operators, keypads, bollards and site lighting are all 15-year land improvements. On a single-story drive-up site, site work regularly exceeds a quarter of total cost.
Unit systems and security
Inside, partition systems between units are typically not structural, roll-up doors serving individual units, unit-level lighting and sensors, the access control platform, camera coverage, individual door alarms and the office and retail counter build-out are personal property. Climate-controlled buildings add dedicated HVAC serving the storage function rather than a conditioned occupancy, which is worth engineering carefully.
Component takeoff
What we pull out of self-storage facilities
Grouped by the recovery period each component lands on. This is representative, not exhaustive — the takeoff on your building will be longer.
- 5Interior partition and unit divider systems
- 5Roll-up doors, latches and unit hardware
- 5Access control, keypads, gate operators and door alarms
- 5Camera systems, monitoring and network cabling
- 5Unit and corridor lighting with motion sensing
- 5Office and retail counter millwork, signage and displays
- 5Dedicated HVAC serving climate-controlled storage areas
- 7Office furniture and equipment
- 7Moving and truck-rental support equipment
- 15Drive aisles, aprons, concrete pads and asphalt paving
- 15Perimeter fencing, screening walls and slide gates
- 15Site and building-mounted exterior lighting
- 15Landscaping, irrigation and buffer planting
- 15Storm drainage, detention and site grading improvements
- 15Monument signage foundations and directional signage
- 39Building shells, foundations, slabs and roofs
- 39Exterior metal panel systems and structural framing
- 39Fire protection mains and base electrical service
Questions
How much of the basis usually reclassifies on this property type?
Studies on self-storage facilities typically move 24% to 36% of depreciable basis into 5, 7 and 15-year classes. That is a planning range from comparable buildings, not a promise — the number that ends up on your return comes from the actual takeoff.
What documents do you need?
The closing statement, the current depreciation schedule and the property address at minimum. Construction records, drawings, pay applications and change orders make the work more precise and often cheaper.
I bought this several years ago. Is it too late?
No. As long as you still own it and placed it in service after 1986, a look-back study captures every missed deduction and brings it forward on the current return via Form 3115. No amended returns.
Related
Other property types
The study is one piece. We can handle the rest of the return.
Deprecio is part of the Shurek Accounting & Tax family of brands. If you want the study and the tax work under one roof — the return, the Form 3115, entity structure, quarterly estimates, multi-state filings — that is a single engagement, not a hand-off between two firms.
No-cost feasibility review
Find out what your building is hiding.
A feasibility review is free and takes about twenty minutes. Bring the closing statement and the depreciation schedule; we will tell you plainly whether a study pays for itself.